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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AMULAAN KALIGAAN: A Celebration of Thanksgiving and Good Harvest

A Philippine Cultural Presentation in Chicago

Featuring the Indigenous Music and Dances of Mindanao

Chicago will have a taste of Philippine ethnic music and dances as Hataw Pinoy Chicago celebrates its 4th Anniversary on December 1, 2007 with a cultural presentation entitled “Amulaan Kaligaan – A Celebration of Thanksgiving and Good Harvest.” The event will feature a live kulintangan – a set of brass musical instruments - accompanying the songs and tribal dances culled from the rich heritage and traditions of the lumad (indigenous tribes) of Mindanao, a culturally rich and diverse island in the southern part of the Philippines. Among the indigenous tribes represented in the musical theater production are the Maranao, Maguindanao, Tausug, B’laan, Talaandig, Bukidnon, Manobo, Subanon and T’Boli.

Owing to the diversity of its cultural heritage, the Philippines does not have a definite theater form, unlike other Asian countries such as Indonesia’s Wayang Kulit, Japan’s Kabuki and India’s Kathakali. In the Philippines, there are the traditional local performance art forms such as the cenakulo, moro-moro and zarzuela, to mention a few. But none of these forms is deemed representative of the Filipino people as a whole. On the other hand, Filipinos are very much exposed to the western theater forms. This has undermined the traditional theater forms, with many Filipinos choosing to watch and stage western-style plays and musicals. In response to this situation and upon invitation by the officials of Mindanao State University, the Sining Kambayoka Ensemble was founded in 1974 by Frank G. Rivera, a multi-awarded Filipino director, playwright and author. Drawing from his experience with the Philippine Educational Theater Association, Rivera sought to weave local color into the plays that the theater company produced, fulfilling PETA’s dream of making the arts more accessible to the masses. Sining Kambayoka’s goals were to experiment, evolve and develop a theater form based on the diversity of the Philippines’ indigenous people, blended with the Filipino’s current experiences. The theater form they developed is called the kambayoka theater form. Kambayoka is taken from “bayok”, a Maranao word for chant. The “bayok” is often compared to the very similar balagtasan (a debate with two poets and a moderator reciting their arguments and rebuttals for or against an issue in poetic verses) often staged in the Tagalog regions of the northern Philippine island of Luzon. World-renowned and multi-awarded Sining Kambayoka Ensemble continues to be popular among theater-goers and critics alike as it draws its materials from the rich indigenous traditions of Mindanao, particularly the Maranaos of Lanao. It is lauded for its “adaptation of folklore, customs, and folkways which include both oral and written literary traditions, visual arts and music for theatrical presentation.”

The need to propagate and promote the kambayoka theater form to the global audience has caused the creation of the Kambayoka Artists’ Resource Training System (K-ARTS) Outreach, Inc. by Sining Kambayoka alumni Basilidas V. Pilapil, Jr., Raul Z. Prima, Somerset Maugham V. Lavina, Feriorein C. Bontor, Rowena R. Bontor, Aldine M. Romero, Enelita R. Tapongot, Emmanuel C. Escudero and Felix R. Tapongot. The not-for-profit group now based in California - incorporators Joshua Di Nehru Maglasang, Aimee Marie Aileen Maglasang, Michelle San Nicolas, Enelita R. Tapongot, Jieras S. Yuzon, Josie H. Harwart, Bonnie Jean Quirante and Dick S. Yuzon under the leadership of Felix R. Tapongot as Executive Director - is inspired by their belief in the active role of theater and cultural activities in the development of the global Filipino community, especially in the formation and the cultivation of the Filipino identity among young Filipinos born or raised in the US. K-ARTS aims to showcase, entertain, introduce and educate the Filipino-Americans and the mainstream Americans about Philippine culture through cultural presentations featuring the dances, songs and rituals of tribal Filipinos; to promote, popularize, develop and propagate the kambayoka theater form through theatrical presentations and through creative theatrical productions with emphasis on the use of the group improvisational process; to help finance struggling and impoverished artists and students of culture whose purpose is the promotion of Philippine culture in theatrical arts; to conduct seminar-workshops, trainings and lectures on creative drama, music and sounds, dance and movements, scriptwriting and visual arts in schools, community groups, religious and civic organizations and the like; to initiate, organize and establish the creation of theater, dance and ethno-based music groups in the community using indigenous arts and forms; to invite local, regional, national and international performing groups and artists thereby exposing and elevating the aesthetic sensibilities of the performers and the community at large ; and to build a comprehensive databank on Philippine arts and culture, particularly on tribal Filipinos.

Toward this end, it has performed in major festivals in different venues in both the West and East Coasts through its Kambayoka Suroyan Project USA. The group, under the sponsorship of William Ross, Big Bear Bowling Barn owner and proprietor, has been to Nevada, Virginia, Maryland, to major cities in California and will be in Chicago to facilitate a workshop on ethnic music, dances and the kambayoka theater form on November 24 and 25.

Hataw Pinoy Chicago and K-ARTS are co-presenting this very colorful production at the St. Scholastica Academy Auditorium located on 7416 N. Ridge in Chicago at 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 1. Hataw Pinoy Chicago is the first locally produced Filipino American musical variety television show of its kind in the United States. It is a volunteer-run organization of young talents to who are provided training in singing, dancing, hosting, acting, and interviewing as well as work behind the cameras. Cast and crew members give their time, talent and resources to be able to provide young Filipino Americans an alternative to their usual activities. The television program has been on air since November of 2003 on Sundays at 1 p.m. over WOCH KBC, Channel 41 and can also be viewed online at www.suncastv.com. Proceeds of the show will benefit the TV production and help cover part of its cost for the airing of the show in 2008.

For details and information about the workshop and the cultural performance, please call Leo Gonzales (773) 510-5413 / Alpha Nicolasin (773) 334-4999/ Emil Nicolasin (847) 208-8912 or write to LLG PRODUCTIONS, 5232 N. Western Avenue, Chicago, IL 60625 / Email: hatawpinoychicago@yahoo.com / www.hatawpinoy.com

Photo Release: Members of the Kambayoka ARTS perform a dance from the Talaandig tribe in Mindanao (Photo by Alpha Nicolasin)

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Ticket Prices: $75(VIP Section) /25/$30/$40/$50 tickets

Senior Citizen Discount: 10% off the ticket price purchased

Students with Valid ID: discounted at $10/ticket (balcony only – must show ID at the door)

Group Rate A (10 or more): 10% discount from total price (not valid with other discounts)

Group Rate B (20 or more): 20% discount from total price (not valid with other discounts)

Workshop Participation Fee - $30

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